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SINGAPORE: The Government will offer a unique COVID-19 test to more than 45,000 people working in 110 street vendor centers and markets and more than 1,120 cafeterias, as well as food delivery personnel operating in the locality of these places to eat .
The test exercise started on Thursday (October 15) in the Ang Mo Kio group representation constituency, the single-member constituencies of Kebun Baru and Yio Chu Kang, involving more than 2,200 people in 11 centers. and street vendor markets and 82 coffeeshops.
This will be “progressively rolled out in different regions of Singapore,” the National Environment Agency (NEA), Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) said.
Details of the exercise were announced by the agencies in a joint press release on Thursday.
In August, the Ministry of Health (MOH) had said that it planned to offer COVID-19 tests to community groups such as taxi drivers, food delivery men, as well as street vendors in street vending centers, markets and cafeterias, as part of the efforts to expand the COVID-19 testing regimen.
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“These tests will be offered to these groups to provide a better picture of the prevalence of the population and facilitate early containment of any cryptic cases in the community,” the ministry had previously said.
On Thursday, NEA, SFA and ESG said testing has been extended to more workers, as well as food delivery personnel, “due to their increased frequency of interactions with members of the public.”
PILOT IN MARINE PARADE
The agencies said the broader deployment followed a “successful pilot” of the COVID-19 test exercise conducted at Marine Parade.
On September 19-20, voluntary COVID-19 swab testing was conducted for people working at three street vendor centers and markets and seven cafeterias at Marine Parade, as well as food delivery personnel operating in the area, the agencies said.
“More than 750 shopkeepers, booth attendants, cleaners and food delivery personnel took the test. No positive cases of COVID-19 were detected,” the agencies added.
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BIGGEST ROLL OF TESTING
The wider rollout of the tests in more areas would take place Thursday through Friday at the following 11 screening centers near these centers and street vendor markets:
(Table: NEA, SFA, ESG)
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“Beyond the city of Ang Mo Kio, NEA is in discussions with city councils, as well as street vendor associations and street vendor center and market merchants in other parts of Singapore, to identify suitable locations, dates and times. for the test operations to be carried out. “the agencies said.
They added: “The plan is to cover the remaining street vendor centers and markets, as well as the more than 1,120 coffee shops, before the end of the year.”
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The agencies said feedback from community groups tested in the Marine Parade pilot had been taken into account in the expanded testing exercise.
This included scheduling tests for weekdays rather than weekends, which were generally busier, as well as setting up screening centers near street vendor centers and markets so that they were accessible.
Crowd control, safe distancing and hygiene measures will also be implemented in the detection centers.
“NEA, SFA and ESG, and the respective associations of street vendors and traders, as well as food delivery companies, will inform the booths, booth attendants, cleaners and food distributors in advance about when and where they can be carried out. evidence, “the agencies said.
They added: “While participation in the test is voluntary, members of identified community groups are strongly encouraged to come forward for the test, in order to better protect themselves and their loved ones.”
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